Mumbai: Honk was there to lend a helping hand to the makers of the legendary Z cars and the fearsome GT-R as they contemplate their future product line-up in India. To the petrolhead, the Sunny and Micra offer no reason to get out of bed. We also know that the Terrano, while still a great car, is a rebadged Renault Duster; which itself is a rebadged Dacia. That’s their current line-up.
So they created the Nissan Carnival at the Buddh International Circuit’s parking lot where unsuspecting journos and hacks such as myself were invited to do some hooning in a selection of their cars. First up was the all-electric Leaf. It’s very striking and looks like nothing else on the road. The interior is straight-up 22nd century Japanese. It’s a blend of perfect ergonomics and beautiful digital instruments. And our test car was Dubai-reg; ergo, left-hand-drive. Ahead of me was a simple slalom course where we were meant to fling from side to side, in the hope that it will reveal its handling characteristics in the process. It did. And for what is essentially an electric city runabout, it was rather good.
Next was the Sunny and Micra. Honestly, I never liked them. They offer no excitement whatsoever. But on the handling track (complete with tight handbrake turns) they were a hoot. Nobody that ever buys one of these will ever drive them like I did on the track, but we tip our hats to Nissan for making even these cars great fun.
Finally, the reason we’d gone down there — the Nissan Patrol. This is a full-size SUV even by American standards. And we had to take it off-roading. Like all big Japanese SUVs, it’s designed to be infallible when the going gets rough. And it was, until some journalist got it beached on a mound of sand. Then another one ran out of talent while tackling an incline of about 25 degrees.
When Honk’s turn finally came, we had no trouble at all. I mean, when you’ve got a 5.6L petrol V8 putting out 400bhp, enough torque rearrange God’s green earth, all the four-wheel-drive tech in the world in a machine that is specifically designed to do exactly what we were doing, it is absolutely no hardship. We go off-roading more often than most, so it must mean that it’s only brilliant in the right hands. Good. We want one.
No sportscars were on offer, sadly. But Nissan is not averse to bringing the 370Z and GT-R to India. They’re also pretty keen on bringing in their SUV line-up — Patrol, Pathfinder and X-Trail. Not to mention the electric Leaf. Like all good democracies, let’s put this to a vote. We’ll give you the crib-sheets of each one and you tell us which ones you want to see at your nearest dealership.
Sportscars 370Z
- Engine — 3.7L V6 — 325bhp
- Gearbox — 6-speed Manual
- Performance — 0 — 100 in 5.6 seconds (and spectacular handling)
- Expected price — Rs 70-80 lakh.
GT-R
- Engine — 3.8L twin-turbo V6 - 550bhp
- Gearbox — 6-speed dual clutch auto
- Performance — 0-100 in 2.8 seconds (and better ‘Ring laptimes than most Prosches)
- Expected price—Rs 1.4 Crore.
- 105bhp electric motor
- Charge time (full charge) — 8 hours
- Range (Normal Driving) — 200km (claimed)
- Expected Price — Rs 35-45 lakh.
- Engine — 5.6L V8 (Petrol) — 400bhp
- Gearbox — 7-speed CVT auto + intelligent 4wd
- Performance — Just take it off road
- Expected Price — Rs 95 lakh-1.25 crore
- Engine — 2.5L 4-cylinder petrol + 15KW electric motor (Hybrid) - 250bhp combined
- Gearbox — CVT
- Performance — 0-100 (Not Relevant) Great usable power + Full-time 4wd
- Expected Price —Rs 50-60 Lakh
- Engine - Diesel — 2.0 (143bhp) & 2.5 (170bhp). Petrol — 1.6 (130bhp)
- Gearbox — 6 Speed Manual/Auto OR CVT
- Performance — One of the best all-round SUVs in the world.
- Expected Price —Rs 25-30 Lakh
